Have Insiders Been Selling Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK) Shares?
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Landmark Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:LARK).
What Is Insider Selling?
It's quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, most countries require that the company discloses such transactions to the market.
Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. For example, a Columbia University study found that 'insiders are more likely to engage in open market purchases of their own company’s stock when the firm is about to reveal new agreements with customers and suppliers'.
View our latest analysis for Landmark Bancorp
The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Landmark Bancorp
In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Executive Chairman of the Board, Patrick Alexander, sold US$101k worth of shares at a price of US$23.10 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$23.90, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. This single sale was just 2.9% of Patrick Alexander's stake.
Over the last year, we note insiders sold 5771.6 shares worth US$134k. Landmark Bancorp insiders didn't buy any shares over the last year. The chart below shows insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!
If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Landmark Bancorp Insiders Are Selling The Stock
The last quarter saw substantial insider selling of Landmark Bancorp shares. Specifically, Patrick Alexander ditched US$130k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any purchases whatsoever. In light of this it's hard to argue that all the directors think that the shares are a bargain.
Does Landmark Bancorp Boast High Insider Ownership?
I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 25% of Landmark Bancorp shares, worth about US$27m. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.
So What Do The Landmark Bancorp Insider Transactions Indicate?
An insider sold stock recently, but they haven't been buying. And even if we look to the last year, we didn't see any purchases. On the plus side, Landmark Bancorp makes money, and is growing profits. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. So we'd only buy after careful consideration. To put this in context, take a look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow .
But note: Landmark Bancorp may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
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